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Time to look again at online video?

| jamesstodd
Image from Youtube.com

My former GCap Media boss Dirk Anthony shared this article yesterday.

According to the article, YouTube’s skippable ads now make Google “as much revenue per hour as ads on cable TV”. That’s according to YouTube’s global head of content Robert Kyncl.

This is a huge deal. The talk of platforms such as Apple and Google eventually becoming a new way of consumers consuming content are long gone. These platforms are already there – and by logic, will overtake the traditional platforms in a matter of years. The question is – what are traditional broadcasters (and I mean TV and radio), doing about this?

Now some will argue that advertising online is dead as viewers can simply skip it. This is what is happening on TV. Currently most TV I watch is recorded on my Hard Disk recorder. I can skip AD breaks at the touch of a button – so never need to see them. And with the content I watch on iPlayer – I never see trails for programmes since they are only broadcast on the linear TV platforms.

But viewers skip ads don’t they?

According to Robert Kyncl at YouTube:

 We’re making ads optional. Users can skip them if they don’t like them. That’s a big deal. When advertisers pay only when ads are watched – and when viewers are watching only the ads that they care about – they won’t and they don’t mind paying.

Therefore – the ads and trails that they watch are ones that interest and engage them. And whilst this post is about visual content, radio promotions need to be equally efficient at doing this too.

The argument should be – how do we hook the consumer in to watching the ads or trails? Are we intriguing them? Are we exciting them? And is there some clarity to tell them what we’re selling them?

With YouTube ads, it’s pretty easy to integrate extra targeted overlays. This technique could be particularly useful for relevant Tx details which could be targeted to viewers.

Since people like the BBC now have YouTube channels, you’d guess that pretty soon, we should be expecting relevant programme trails to be scheduled to appear here – around the content that already exists. There needs to be a way where potential audiences to linear programming become aware of it on digital platforms. And whilst there are no trails on iplayer at the moment, surely there needs to be some thought as to how content is promoted to BBC online viewers on that platform. The argument up to now has been that people must always opt in to auto playing content. I think this is sensible since not everyone wants it. But maybe the ability to opt in would be useful.

As long as its relevant and targeted, it’s unlikely I’d skip it. Agree or disagree. Let me know..

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Search Me? Finding content in a search driven world

| jamesstodd

In a world of content – how can we expect people to find our great work?

I was intrigued by a session at Radiodays Europe last month presented by Jakob Bjur – the researcher in residence at Swedish radio. His presentation was based on a research paper he’d written on “Transforming Audiences – Patterns of individualization in Television Viewing”. It’s a weighty document and you can read it all here.

He made many interesting points, including the fact that “the content we deliver now falls into the web and is resocialised”. But he asked the question as to whether radio/sound now needs to be visualised in order to be found?

Think about it; you can search online for text and images and video, but sound is harder to search – unless it has loads of relevant metadata. Or maybe a full transcript?

As we consider the digital future, (or as someone put it today, the post Digital future), what content exactly do we want our listeners/audience to search out? And are we being far too prescriptive in how we categorise our content and how they consume it?

I’m not for a moment suggesting that our traditional, linear forms of broadcasting have had their place. Far from it. But in a world where our younger audiences are consuming 9 hours worth of content in less than 7 hours – ie using at least a couple of media simultaneously – should we be helping them find that content in a way that’s more suitable for their lifestyles?

Could we see a future where people could have an app on their smart phone that simply has a BBC search box – much like the Google search. It could learn who you are, what you like and give you it.

Maybe it’s a future where you select the type of content you want and it’s delivered to your phone – ready to consume on the way to work. But now, it’s not simply radio, but the funniest bits of last night’s Mock the Week, the must-see film from last week’s Top Gear, a video of the Taylor Swift Live Lounge performance, and the latest film review from Mayo and Kermode.

In short, I don’t care whether they are consuming Radio, or TV, or online content. I just want to make sure that, as future licence fee payers, and therefore our future audience, that they consume BBC content.

Or at least know that it’s there.

[Disclosure: Whilst I work for the BBC – these are my own views].

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